She Won 8 Olympic Medals, Then Retired at Age 25. Here’s How She’s Changing Her ‘Super Intense’ Mindset.

After winning eight Olympic medals and retiring last year at age 25, Ariarne Titmus is done with competitive swimming. Now the 26-year-old Australian athlete is rethinking a life built around winning or failing. 

According to a recent report from The Guardian, Titmus acknowledged that she looks at “a lot of things” in her life as “pretty black and white” and it is “not a good way to be sometimes.”

“In my swimming career, I was all or nothing,” she said. “I was win or lose. I was achieve it, or fail. And I guess that’s not a great way to be in life.”

Titmus, 26, earned four gold, three silver and a bronze medal at Olympic events, making her one of the world’s most accomplished athletes. She left competitive swimming after the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

Titmus had to reorient herself to a new normal after realizing that an all-or-nothing mindset didn’t work for life after retirement from competitive sports. She knew how to win Olympic medals. Then she had to learn to live beyond them.

Titmus said undergoing a surgery in 2023 to remove an ovarian growth prompted her to reconsider her priorities and make room for life after swimming. 

“I’ve definitely tried to change my outlook on a few areas of my life and not live with that super intense mindset that I had to have to be successful in the pool,” she said. “Because I don’t have to be like that any more.”

How other Olympic athletes approach retirement

For other elite athletes besides Titmus, retiring has required them to reconsider how they structure their days and measure success. 

Record-breaking U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps, who retired from the sport in 2016 after taking home 28 Olympic medals, told CNBC in 2021 that his competitive career had revolved around controlling everything he could to achieve near-perfection. When he retired, he had to learn to slow down, take deep breaths during stressful situations and seek support rather than manage everything himself. During the pandemic, that meant speaking more frequently with his therapist, friends and family. 

Phelps did not abandon every familiar habit. He said he still exercised six or seven times a week, including weightlifting sessions. 

Meanwhile, competitive Australian tennis player Ashleigh Barty took a different approach. When she retired, she focused on separating happiness from results. 

Barty announced her retirement at age 25 in March 2022, explaining that her tennis career had resulted in a change in perspective. For her, success meant knowing that she had given everything and felt fulfilled. She would not allow results of a match to determine her happiness.

Barty achieved her childhood dream of winning Wimbledon, an annual tennis tournament held in London, in 2021. She said the accomplishment changed her perspective. She decided that her ambition had delivered enough results in tennis and chose to retire instead of chasing another title. 

“There’s no right way, there’s no wrong way, it’s just my way,” Barty said in her retirement announcement video. 

After winning eight Olympic medals and retiring last year at age 25, Ariarne Titmus is done with competitive swimming. Now the 26-year-old Australian athlete is rethinking a life built around winning or failing. 

According to a recent report from The Guardian, Titmus acknowledged that she looks at “a lot of things” in her life as “pretty black and white” and it is “not a good way to be sometimes.”

“In my swimming career, I was all or nothing,” she said. “I was win or lose. I was achieve it, or fail. And I guess that’s not a great way to be in life.”